Jamie Lee Curtis dismisses Nepo Baby controversy: No controversy

New York Magazine dominated online entertainment discourse last December after a story about ‘nepo babies’, also known as the children of celebrities who worked in the entertainment industry. The play provoked a range of reactions, from indignation to sympathy to pure apathy.

Count Jamie Lee Curtis in the latter category. Curtis (whose parents are Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh) spoke to IndieWire on the blue carpet at the Independent Spirit Awards and explained why she’s ready for that conversation to end.

“I’m kidding at this point,” Curtis said. “Now that’s nonsense. No discourse. It was a magazine slam article and got a lot of traction. Which they will probably be very happy about.”

This isn’t the first time Curtis has shared his thoughts on the Nepo Baby discourse (or, in his opinion, the lack thereof). In an Instagram post in December, she expressed similar sentiments about how people should be judged based on their own talent, not their background.

“It’s funny how we immediately make assumptions and snide remarks that someone related to someone else who is famous for their art in their field somehow has no talent. I have come to realize that this is simply not true,” Curtis wrote. “I applied and presented to thousands of people for all kinds of jobs, and every day I tried to bring integrity and professionalism, love, community and art to my work. I’m not alone. We are many. Dedicated to our craft. They are proud of our origins. We have a strong belief in our right to exist.”

She ended the post by asking fans to stop implying that she only has a career because her parents are famous.

“I never understood, and never will, the qualities that took me that day, but from my first two lines at Quincy as a contract player at Universal Studios until this spectacularly creative year some 44 years later, I have not had this in my professional life the day goes by without me remembering that I am the daughter of movie stars,” she said. “For 44 years I’ve certainly navigated the benefits that my associated and reflective fame has brought me, I don’t pretend that there aren’t any that are trying to say that I don’t have value in myself.”

Watch IndieWire’s interview with Curtis below.

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